Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Another string quilt. These are my go-to, relaxing, mindless quilts. Cut up a bunch of strips in varying widths, sew them diagonally onto Missouri Star Quilt Company's neat 10" papers, trim and that's it. Beyond mindless. The best part is that you get to make choices of which fabrics to put next to each other. My kind of patchwork.

The blocks are 10" square, and they are easy peasy to assemble. When Miss R visited us for her week, she picked out the fabrics to go with her newly painted bedroom. The colors on my monitor are pretty accurate.

So now I need to sew them together, then the strips, and then I'll have a pretty flimsy. It's got to wait in the queue, because I have 3 other flimsies spoken for.

So what to do next? I'm thinking another log cabin but this one with 2" strips and not curved. I found tons of fabric that's calling me. Hmmmm.

So, a question for you quilters out there: What do you do with your quilts when you have too many of them. I am making for family and friends, so I'm not at that point yet, but it's coming. I'm thinking donations to charities.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

This is starting to make the rounds in the quilting world, so I thought I'd add my 2 cents.

BTW, just because I don't like something, doesn't mean that I don't admire it in other quilts. It's just that some of these things are just not for me. So, don't take any of this nonsense personally.

1. I don't prewash unless I'm working on flannel. I do use 2 color catchers in the first wash, however.

2. I'm not fond of the quilting aspect. I love the piecing, but not the quilting.

3. I admire professional quilting but will not use it. These are my quilts and I don't want someone else's work on them. I also don't want fancy quilting to take away from the color work and the piecing. And I kind of like tying quilts.

4. I don't like templates except for EPP. I don't measure the logs on a log cabin quilt, and I don't measure the strings on a string quilt.

5. I do not like reproduction fabric or Civil War quilts. I also don't like basket quilts. No good reason; they just seem boring.

6. I love batiks, Kaffe and Co fabrics, and florals.

7. It's all about the color for me. Forget the teensy-weensy little pieces. I admire, but will never do a quilt with a gazillion pieces in each
block. That's way too much work for me, and I'm not accurate enough.
And anyhow, it's the color, not the amount of pieces that moves me.

8. I hate the grey background used on lots of modern quilts. Greys come in lots of variations, and in most of these quilts, the grey just doesn't go with the rest of the fabric. Plus, I think that a white background really makes the colors pop, as opposed to that dull grey. And it is a bit precious to use grey just because everyone else is using it.

9. I can't do a scant 1/4" seam. I figure that if I'm consistent with my 1/4" seams, then that's all that counts. And sometimes, my seams are off. That's why I like string quilts; my wonky seams are just fine.

10. I don't measure for the borders. I just sew together my fabric strips, lay them on top of the quilt, pin a lot, and then sew. I figure that if there is a bit of stretch, it will all work out when I've quilted it (with much grumbling) and washed and dried it.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

The thing is about 68" square. Perfect for me to cuddle under. The Hubz, aka the design wall man, is over 6' with a big wing span. So you get the idea on the size, which is about as big as I ever want to make anything.

I loved doing this. Clearly strip quilts and log cabins are where I live.

And here is the first block on Miss R's quilt. Yet another strip quilt. I cannot tell you just how much I love making these!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

I've been MIA for over 1 1/2 months! All those grandkid visits and then the MN birthday visit, and the Hubz' business trip, etc, etc, - I just didn't have time to blog. I'm back now, at least for a little while.

So, here's the I Spy quilt all tied and crinkled and already loved by the little guy.

I didn't want to quilt this one, so I tied in in all sorts of embroidery floss. Tying takes almost no time at all, and I thought it would be fun for a little guy.

The little guy loves to sit on it, and his family is playing "where's the doggy, etc" with him. His mom is impressed with all the work, but I told her that it was actually a very easy quilt to make. I love picking out fabrics and deciding where they will go. I do NOT like knowing what my quilt will look like before I make it. I'm the same way with knitting. I love the surprise of when it all comes together.